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Trailer dwell time
Trailer dwell time is how long equipment stays on your yard by stage — since gate-in, since staged, since at the door. Yard management software tracks dwell on the visit record so teams act before detention, demurrage, and OTIF misses.
Definition
What trailer dwell time measures
Dwell is not one clock for the whole visit. Operations teams care about stage dwell: time in the gate queue, time in staging, time at the dock door. A YMS timestamps each transition so yard leads see where trailers stall.
Searchers use yard dwell time, trailer dwell time, and dwell time management for the same operational problem. floDock uses one topic page and redirects alias URLs — separate from AI yard management, which covers predictive risk scoring.
Cost
Detention, demurrage, and yard fees
Detention is carrier-facing free time on equipment. Demurrage applies to container and port contexts. Both escalate when dwell visibility is late. Stage alerts and predictive dwell — on the same visit record — give teams lead time to move, rebook, or close out documents.
Related topic
Dwell time vs AI yard management
Dwell time is the metric and operational discipline. AI yard management is the assist layer — predictive risk, exception queues, and recommended actions. You need accurate dwell timestamps first; intelligence builds on that data.
Glossary
Related glossary terms
Terms
Also known as
These phrases refer to the same concept: yard dwell time, dwell time management, trailer dwell, yard detention, yard detention fees, reduce yard dwell, detention and demurrage.
Questions
Common questions
What is a good trailer dwell time target?
Targets vary by site, lane, and carrier contract. Most teams set stage thresholds in their YMS — for example alerts at 60 minutes in staging or 120 minutes total — then tune from historical dwell on completed visits.
Is yard dwell time the same as detention?
Dwell is the measured time on site. Detention is a contractual penalty when dwell exceeds agreed free time. Yard software tracks dwell; finance and carriers apply detention rules to those timestamps.
See it on your own gates and docks.
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